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COURT UPHOLDS

WISCONSIN LABOR LAW

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's contentious law stripping most public workers of nearly all of their collective bargaining rights – a decision that was hailed by Republicans but did not undo a state court ruling keeping much of the law from being in effect. The decision marks the latest twist in a two-year battle over the law that Walker proposed in February 2011 and passed a month later despite many protests and Senate Democrats leaving for Illinois in a failed attempt to block a vote on the measure. The law forced public union members to pay more for health insurance and pension benefits, which Walker said was needed to address a budget shortfall. It also took away nearly all their bargaining rights. The decision, however, does not resolve a flurry of other lawsuits that have been filed over the law.

FORMER NEW ORLEANS MAYOR INDICTED

More than a decade ago, Ray Nagin was elected mayor of New Orleans on a vow to root out corruption in a city plagued by decades of it. On Friday, the former mayor was indicted on charges he lined his pockets with bribe money, payoffs and gratuities while the chronically poor city struggled to recover from Hurricane Katrina. The federal indictment alleges that city contractors paid Nagin more than $200,000 in bribes and subsidized his trips to Hawaii, Jamaica and other places in exchange for his help securing millions of dollars in work for the city. The case also punctuates the reversal of political and personal fortune for Nagin, who had what New Orleans Magazine editor Errol Laborde called “rock star status” soon after his election in 2002. He left office in 2010.

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